First American Bank Acquires 163 Shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

First American Bank grew its holdings in shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 0.2% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 72,567 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after purchasing an additional 163 shares during the quarter. Danaher comprises about 1.2% of First American Bank’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 20th biggest position. First American Bank’s holdings in Danaher were worth $16,658,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of DHR. AMF Tjanstepension AB acquired a new position in shares of Danaher during the 3rd quarter worth about $5,923,000. Howard Capital Management Group LLC grew its holdings in shares of Danaher by 4.1% during the 3rd quarter. Howard Capital Management Group LLC now owns 1,229 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $342,000 after purchasing an additional 48 shares in the last quarter. Valmark Advisers Inc. increased its position in shares of Danaher by 11.6% during the third quarter. Valmark Advisers Inc. now owns 2,900 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $806,000 after purchasing an additional 302 shares during the period. Nicholas Hoffman & Company LLC. raised its stake in shares of Danaher by 4.8% in the third quarter. Nicholas Hoffman & Company LLC. now owns 1,866 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $519,000 after purchasing an additional 86 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mutual Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Danaher by 6.4% during the third quarter. Mutual Advisors LLC now owns 6,478 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $1,801,000 after buying an additional 390 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.05% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on DHR shares. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Danaher from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, December 14th. Robert W. Baird dropped their target price on Danaher from $277.00 to $268.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Bank of America upgraded Danaher from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $290.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Barclays dropped their target price on shares of Danaher from $275.00 to $240.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Danaher from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $285.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $278.00.

Insider Activity at Danaher

In related news, SVP Brian W. Ellis sold 5,700 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $224.13, for a total transaction of $1,277,541.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 20,230 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,534,149.90. The trade was a 21.98 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 11.10% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Danaher Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE DHR opened at $205.69 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a current ratio of 1.40. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $225.00 and a 200 day moving average price of $245.50. The stock has a market capitalization of $147.01 billion, a PE ratio of 38.96, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.83. Danaher Co. has a 52 week low of $196.80 and a 52 week high of $281.70.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The conglomerate reported $2.14 EPS for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $2.14. Danaher had a return on equity of 10.82% and a net margin of 16.33%. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.09 earnings per share. Analysts predict that Danaher Co. will post 7.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Danaher Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 25th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 28th will be issued a $0.32 dividend. This represents a $1.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.62%. This is a boost from Danaher’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 28th. Danaher’s dividend payout ratio is presently 24.24%.

About Danaher

Danaher Corporation designs, manufactures, and markets professional, medical, industrial, and commercial products and services worldwide. The Biotechnology segments offers bioprocess technologies, consumables, and services that advance, accelerate, and integrate the development and manufacture of therapeutics; cell line and cell culture media development services; cell culture media, process liquids and buffers for manufacturing, chromatography resins, filtration technologies, aseptic fill finish; single-use hardware and consumables and services, such as the design and installation of full manufacturing suites; lab filtration, separation, and purification; lab-scale protein purification and analytical tools; reagents, membranes, and services; and healthcare filtration solutions.